Bookmarking Pages

Rather than repeatedly search for the same words, you probably want to save frequently visited websites as bookmarks. Tap the Star icon in the upper-right corner to save a bookmark, as shown in Figure 12–3.

Figure 12–3. Saving a bookmark

You can save bookmarks to the Bookmarks area (this is the default and easiest option), or you can save a bookmark as a shortcut on your Home screen or to another folder.

Using Bookmarks and History

Saving bookmarks is only useful if you can quickly browse to those bookmarks when you need them. Rather than taking up space on your browser’s Navigation bar, bookmarks in Android get their own page. Tap the Bookmarks button on the upper-right corner of the screen, and you’ll see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 12–4.

Figure 12–4. The Bookmarks page

You can swipe with your finger to navigate through the Bookmarks page. This page comes pre-populated with some common websites, like CNN and eBay; however, this page also shows any bookmarks you’ve added, as well as thumbnails for any website you’ve visited. The Bookmarks page is also available as a Home screen widget.

In addition to viewing bookmarks, you can also browse your own viewing history. This is a really useful way to get back to a page you know you’ve visited, but which you’ve forgotten to bookmark or otherwise can’t find again. To view your history, tap the History tab on the upper-left side of the Bookmarks page (see Figure 12–5).

Figure 12–5. Viewing the Browser app’s History page

Notice the stars next to each site in the list. These stars indicate whether you’ve already bookmarked a page; they also let you create a bookmark, if you so desire.

If you don’t want your browsing history to show up here, you can tap the Menu button and select the option to delete your history.